OREANDA-NEWS. Bashneft has reached agreement to acquire a network of filling stations operating under the OPTAN brand name and comprising 92 filling stations and 11 land plots in 12 regions of Russia: the Chelyabinsk, Kurgan, Ulyanovsk, Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara and Sverdlovsk Regions and the Republic of Bashkortostan, the Republic of Mordovia, the Chuvash Republic, the Republic of Tatarstan and the Mari El Republic

These regions are a high priority for the development of Bashneft's own retail network due to their geographical proximity to the Company's refining complex in Ufa and opportunities for optimizing the cost of petroleum product supplies.

Today Bashneft Group obtained control over a 100% stake in LLC AZS-Saransk and 100% of shares of CJSC Ural and CJSC Helios owning part of the network of filling stations (37 filling stations) operating under the OPTAN brand name and four land plots to be used for construction of new filling stations. These transactions have been approved by the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS).

In addition, FAS has approved the acquisition of 100% of CJSC OPTAN-AZS by Bashneft; OPTAN-AZS owns 49 filling stations operating under the OPTAN brand name and three land plots. The Company has also submitted an application to the antitrust authority to acquire a 100% stake in LLC AZS-Ufa owning the rest of the OPTAN network (six filling stations and four land plots).

Bashneft's Board of Directors has approved the acquisition of the OPTAN network of filling stations for a total of no more than RUB 8.8 billion (adjusted for working capital). It is expected that, subject to FAS approval of the acquisition of LLC AZS-Ufa by the Company, the acquisition of the OPTAN network will be completed before the end of 2014.

'The acquisition of the OPTAN network is entirely consistent with our strategy to increase the number of our own filling stations in high-priority operating regions,' commented Bashneft's Vice President for Regional Sales Dmitry Panyukov. 'We anticipate this deal will enable us to increase retail sales of motor fuels significantly, will be an important step towards our strategic goal of selling 80% of gasoline produced by the Company via retail channels by 2020.'

Most of OPTAN's filling stations are situated in administrative centres of the regions and along the М5 Ural, М7 Volga and М51 Baikal federal highways. The majority of the filling stations in the OPTAN network are in good technical condition and land plots planned for construction of new filling stations are located at advantageous sites.

To maximize the effect of commercial operations of the OPTAN network of filling stations, Bashneft plans to rebrand the network and to upgrade and renovate some of its facilities.